India regulates its pesticides under the Insecticides Act 1968. This Act, however, hasn’t been able to stop the pesticides from contaminating the environment and having a deleterious impact on health. THe Insecticides Act 1968 will be replaced by the Pesticides Management Bill 2008. A lot of hopes were pinned on the Pesticides Management Bill 2008, but the bill hasn't been able to make human and environmental health a priority. CSE has extensively worked on impacts of pesticides and their environmental and human health impacts and it is in this light that CSE makes a few recommendations.

A bill to be tabled in Parliament is set to re-ignite an old tussle between the Centre and states. The Pesticides Management Bill of 2008, which will be heard in the Monsoon Session, aims to replace grand old Insecticides Act of 1968. It will regulate a wider range of chemicals, including weedicides and fungicides along with insecticides.

The agriculture department is finally taking note of the non pesticide management technique of farming. The Andhra Pradesh government issued an order on May 16 that the rural development and the agriculture department would work together to reduce the cost of cultivation and move towards a pesticide free cultivation across the state.

Pesticides are widely used in agriculture without paying much heed to the consequences of its unregulated and indiscriminate use . This fact has been known to our policy makers for nearly five decades. The government is atleast under law supposed to regulate its use. The Insecticides Act of 1971 is a key piece of legislation that is supposed to govern the use, manufacture, distribution, sale and transport of insecticides with a view to lowering risks to human and animal health. In practice this is rarely the case as the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) discovered nearly a decade ago.

Pesticides are widely used in agriculture without paying much heed to the consequences of its unregulated and indiscriminate use . This fact has been known to our policy makers for nearly five decades. The government is atleast under law supposed to regulate its use. The Insecticides Act of 1968 is a key piece of legislation that is supposed to govern the use, manufacture, distribution, sale and transport of insecticides with a view to lowering risks to human and animal health.